Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus has agreed to appoint former Speaker of the Russian State Duma Boris Gryzlov as Ambassador of Russia to Belarus, reports the Belarusian office of the Russian media Sputnik.
There has been no official confirmation of this information so far.
On December 22, the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Relations with Compatriots approved the candidacy of Boris Gryzlov for Russian Ambassador to Belarus.
Current Russian Ambassador to Belarus Yevgeny Lukyanov was appointed at the end of March 2021.
Gryzlov resigned from the State Duma in 2011. Then he only played minor roles in Russian politics and worked in state corporations. He still remains Chairman of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party, but this position now has more symbolic meaning.
Professor of Moscow State University, political analyst Andrei Manoilo believes that this appointment shows that the Belarusian direction is now a priority for Moscow: “heavy artillery” is needed here. “The previous ambassador took an observational position, and Gryzlov’s appointment would be a transition to active action,” he says.
